Arundel A27 Improvements

Public Consultation on the 2017 Options

If you have not yet done so, please Sign our Petition, to support us and be kept informed.

The Highways England report on the outcomes of their autumn 2017 public consultation can be read here.

The following route options were considered in Stage 1 of the present RIS1 exercise, out of which Options 1, 3 and 5A were taken forward for consultation:

The consultation took place 22 August - 16th October 2017

What do other organisations say?

Walberton Parish Council strongly objects to the Binsted Option 5A. Our Arun District Councillor Norman Dingemans and our MP Nick Herbert have long favoured Option 3. So also did WSCC and Arun District Council until they were misled by Highways England's consultation materials to back 5A instead.

CPRE Sussex, the South Downs Society, Sussex Wildlife Trust, ArundelSCATE and other environmental bodies, all oppose Option 5A. (They also oppose Option 3, but are in support of the Option 1 alignment, as the least damaging.)

Hundreds of people wrote giving reasons why the Binsted Option is wholly unacceptable.

This Consultation is part of a process which Highways England originally set out as follows (although the timings have slipped):

Arundel Options History

In December 2014 the government announced funding in principle for a new dual carriageway Arundel bypass, subject to consultation; and the Department for Transport published its plans for the A27 (pp21-22 of this document).

Dr Emma Tristram's Judicial Review case showed evidence that due to serious errors and omissions, "something went clearly and radically wrong with the consultation" following which Highways England had decided upon Option 5A as their Preferred Route. This significantly affected the impression given of the relative traffic benefits, and of the relative environmental impacts, of the options. The South Downs National Park Authority also applied successfully for Judicial Review of the decision because it had not properly considered impacts on, or alternative options to reduce impact on, the National Park.

Highways England have responded by announcing that they will undertake a fresh non-statutory consultation in 2019, with more and better information given and with corrections to relevant errors, and with a fully open mind as to what option they will choose in a fresh Preferred Route Announcement. They have paid the legal costs of both Dr Emma Tristram and the National Park Authority.